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CSX boosts full-year earnings forecast

NEW YORK — CSX Corp., the biggest railroad in the eastern U.S., boosted its full-year profit forecast as crude oil volumes and shipments of intermodal freight climbed in the third quarter.

Earnings per share for 2013 will be “slightly up” from 2012, Jacksonville-based CSX said Tuesday in a statement. Previously, the company said profit would be “roughly flat.” CSX increased 2.9 percent to $26.85 in extended trading.

Earlier, the shares closed at $26.10, an increase of 0.3 percent. They have gained 32 percent this year, as the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index advanced 19 percent.

Shipments of cargo that can be carried by train, truck or ship are CSX’s “greatest opportunity” for growth, Chief Financial Officer Fredrik Eliasson said at a meeting with analysts and investors last month. Intermodal volumes climbed 6 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, the company said Tuesday. Chemical carloads that include crude oil climbed 12 percent.

“The third quarter performance is an ongoing reflection of the company’s ability to capitalize on the modest improvement in the economy” and rising operating efficiency, Chief Executive Officer Michael Ward said in the statement. Net income in the third quarter rose 1.8 percent to $463 million, or 46 cents a share, from $455 million, or 44 cents, a year earlier, CSX said today. Analysts projected 43 cents, the average of 25 estimates compiled by Bloomberg.